Be In The Know Blog

Quick! What's the first metric you should review to determine the success of your PPC campaign?

If you said click-through rate (CTR), you're not alone. In fact, when it comes to measuring consumer engagement, nearly every marketer considers CTR — as you should. While this is a good place to start, it shouldn't be the be-all and end-all KPI.

Why CTR Alone Isn't Enough

A campaign's click-through rate tells you how well your ad is able to convince consumers to take the next step. And while this is certainly important, there is much more to the story.

For example, is your ad generating engagement from leads who are likely to convert? If they don't click an ad, are potential customers reaching out in other ways? And how much revenue is your PPC effort really driving?

When it comes to PPC, the best metrics are conversion-based, according to Unbounce. Here are three conversion-focused KPIs you'll want to consider to illuminate the whole story:

Lead Quality Just because you launched a new campaign and your sales team is immediately bombarded with leads doesn't always mean your ads were a smash hit. Low-quality leads are just as bad as no leads, which is why setting up lead scoring is important and why lead quality should be one of your top KPIs. Better leads mean a better ROI and indicate your marketing efforts are hitting the right target.

Of the companies that use a CRM to store lead data, 84 percent have a standard in place for scoring lead quality, according to a survey by DMN. This means your competitors are probably already doing it, too.

Offline Conversions Most purchases within the first quarter of 2017 happened offline, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. But that doesn't mean those buyers weren't still influenced by online ads. After all, not every lead wants to fill out a web form. And while phone calls and walk-ins are harder to trace, it doesn't mean you shouldn't consider them when reviewing campaign performance. Want to track offline conversions? First, set up call tracking. Second, educate your sales team on how to correctly attribute leads in your CRM. Remind them that doing this helps you determine which campaigns are most effective at driving high-quality leads into their pipeline.

True ROI At the end of the day, the most important metric for any marketing team is ROI. The better you can prove your ability to generate revenue, the easier it will become to increase your department's budget. And if you're doing everything you can to track both online and offline leads, you should be able to easily calculate the ROI of a campaign.

Overall, CTR is an important metric that shows that your ad copy, landing page and keyword section are suitable and the ads are working efficiently — but this metric doesn't tell the full story. By adding lead quality, offline conversions, and true ROI to your campaign review, you can gather greater insight and better determine which PPC strategies are hitting their intended mark.